1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus implementing a Web browser, and a computer-readable storage medium for computer program executed in such an image forming apparatus. An example of the image forming apparatus is an information device called a Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP).
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known an image forming apparatus which has a Web browser for displaying Web pages publicized on the Internet or an intranet. An MFP is proposed which displays a virtual keyboard on an operating panel, obtains, from a Web site, a Web page corresponding to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) entered through the virtual keyboard by a user, and displays the Web page obtained on the operating panel (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-199151). According to such an image forming apparatus, a user is able to browse any Web page (perform browsing) without using a personal computer or another information device.
Some Web pages on the Internet contain a text entry box for a viewer to enter any character string. For example, a Web page for questionnaire contains a section (input field) into which opinions and feedback are entered. A Web page for sign-up contains a section into which personal information is entered. According to an image forming apparatus described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-277120, when a form, of a Web page, described in a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) contains a tag (<input type=“text”>) for designating creation of a single-line text entry box, the Web page is displayed to contain a button for a user to invoke a virtual keyboard. When the user operates the button to display the virtual keyboard and enter any character string, the character string is sent from the image forming apparatus to a server from which the Web page is sent.
In recent years, more and more information devices have implemented a user interface by using a display function of a Web browser. An image forming apparatus is one of such devices. A multifunctional apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-139981 obtains operating screen data from an external controller by using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and displays an operating screen based on the operating screen data on an operating panel by a Web browser. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-152847 shows, in FIG. 27, a screen having a field in which a file path is typed in uploading a file of an HTML form from an MFP to a server.
In the meantime, there has been a technology for prohibiting any character or character string from being entered on an operating panel, i.e., a technology for prohibiting direct entry. For example, as for an image forming apparatus having a facsimile function described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-246190, when being set to a mode in which entering a telephone number through a numerical keypad is prohibited, the image forming apparatus refuses to accept a telephone number entered via the numerical keypad. This arrangement prevents a facsimile document from being transmitted to an unintended recipient because of erroneous operation of the numerical keypad made by an operator.
A Web browser of an image forming apparatus displays any Web page obtained from a Web server provided in the image forming apparatus itself or in an external device connected to the image forming apparatus via a network. When the Web page has a text entry box, the Web browser sends, to the Web server, any text entered by a user of the image forming apparatus. The Web browser sends entered text to the Web server also when the Web page is an operating screen using a Web browser in a Web-based user interface. Thus, if a user enters incorrect text as a transmission destination, for example, an incorrect job may be sent to the image forming apparatus and the incorrect job may be executed.
If the type of information to be entered into a text entry box can be determined based on the form of a Web page, then it may be possible to prohibit a predetermined type of text such as telephone number or electronic mail address from being directly entered. However, a creator of a Web application providing a user interface does not always create a form in such a manner that the type of text can be discerned.
The present disclosure is directed to solve the problems pointed out above, and therefore, an object of an embodiment of the present invention is to prevent text from being entered incorrectly when a Web browser is used as a user interface.